'Senseless and brutal' murder
Sandra Downes
Describing the murder of prominent Trinidadian attorney Dana Seetahal in the early hours of Sunday as "senseless and brutal", High Court Judge Randall Worrell denounced the act in open court yesterday.
Seetahal was the prosecutor in an ongoing murder trial, involving murdered businesswoman Vindra Naipul-Coolman. The prosecutor was shot in the head and upper body while driving in the residential neighbourhood of Woodbrook, Port of Spain, just after midnight on Saturday.
"When anarchy and greed and undiluted love for material possessions grab hold of a society and gain the upper hand, all of us in the society will be the losers," Justice Worrell said in the No. 2 Supreme Court.
"Not only Trinidad and Tobago but the entire Caribbean, one of the last places in the world still regarded as stable; when we should be promoting it, we seem to be fighting among ourselves," he added.
"We should be focused on the social development of our countries and on the development of our systems . . . not on who will get the most tourists."
The judge also spoke in glowing terms of the prominent attorney and lecturer, noting she was one who "gave advice freely to all" whether it was the government, students or colleagues.
Referring to her as "a martyr of the criminal justice system of the Caribbean", Justice Worrell said she was "committed to the improvement and empowerment of the criminal justice system" and one who was a "tireless and selfless advocate" for that cause.
He added that her focus was not only on criminal justice but on "human rights in this region".
Attorneys in court at the time were also given the opportunity to speak.